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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (76950)	4/5/2000 11:38:00 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 108807

Then you sent me on a bit of a wild goose chase, but no matter. People who use opioids for recreation are imbibing a dangerous dose, and depending on the particular intensity of the drug, may become addicted fairly rapidly, and experience the deleterious effects of tolerance fairly rapidly. Some opioids are less dangerous, and intermittent usage might avoid addiction; methods of delivery and dosages affect the rate and severity of addiction, and most prescriptions are fairly safe. This seems to be the consensus. The dangers of psychological addiction may outweigh the dangers of physical addiction, in fact, as the material on the high rate of relapse suggests. I am not sure that addiction ceases to be an issue with the psychedelics, but you are right that other classes of drugs seem more dangerous in that respect...... The argument about government drug policy is complex, and turns on speculations about the likely effects of legalization. My point of view is this:1.) legally sold substances may be promoted by advertising and the distribution of samples, both of which are effective ways of increasing consumption; 2.) legalization will likely reduce costs, and therefore increase consumption; 3.) legalization makes it harder to combat a black market aimed at children, because it makes it easier to hide the existence of such a thing; 4.) success rates at altering addictive behavior are poor, and generally depend upon motivation, which comes from bottoming out. In a more permissive environment, it is likely to become that much harder to motivate people to succeed in treatment; 5.) if the government tries to avoid some of these problems through strict regulation and high taxes, it will perpetuate a black market to get around restrictions; and 6.) the social costs of increased family dysfunction and attempts at rehabilitation will fall on the taxpayers anyway. Thus, I am inclined to the view that legalization would do more harm than good, even as I deplore some of the excesses of the war on drugs, such as indiscriminate confiscation.......